MURIC to President Erdogan: Stop persecuting opposition
The Muslim Rights Concern has told the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to stop the persecution of opposition in his country.
MURIC said this in a statement on Monday ahead of the State Visit of the Turkish president to Nigeria.
The State Visit will take place on Monday (today).
MURIC berated the Turkish leader for persecuting the opposition back home in Turkey. MURIC accused Erdogan of arbitrary arrest, torture, political killings, long imprisonment of opposition figures and critics, particularly members of the Hizmet Movement.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan will arrive in Nigeria today, Monday, 18th October, 2021 on a state visit. He is expected to sign some business deals with his Nigerian counterpart, President Muhammadu Buhari. However, Erdogan’s visit leaves a sour taste in the mouth because of his undemocratic and tyrannical practices back home in Turkey.
“Born on 26th February, 1954 at Rize, Turkey and presently leading the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi), Erdogan who became prime minister of Turkey in 2003 clinged to power for eleven years before metamorphosing into a president on August 28, 2014. He cooked up a phantom coup on 15th July, 2016 to justify sweeping changes to the constitution and he arrogated extensive powers to himself as president one year later.
“What followed was arbitrary arrest, torture, political killings, long imprisonment of opposition figures and critics, particularly members of the Hizmet Movement. Travelling documents of key members of Hizmet were seized, and their properties were confiscated. They were thrown in jail in their thousands without fair trial. Members of the group who were outside Turkey were disallowed from returning.
“Though Hizmet is not a political movement that could threaten his position, yet like all dictators and tyrants, Erdogan was envious of the group because the latter had become extremely popular.
“Erdogan uses its diplomats in Nigeria to haunt Turkish citizens and members of the Hizmet Movement who are rendering humanitarian services in the country. They were declared persona non grata in Turkey and disallowed to enter their country of origin. Their …